Shooting victim was 'bright and focused'

Photo released by police of Courtney Aoki, the victim that was shot in Ladera Ranch on Tuesday. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Ishmael Reyes, manager at the Buena Casa apartments in Buena Park where Courtney Aoki lived with her mother and five cats, said she was a nice girl. MICHAEL GOULDING., ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Lauren Vasquez was a neighbor to Courtney Aoki when she lived at the Buena Casa apartments in Buena Park where Aoki lived with her mother, sister and five cats.Vasquez said the Aoki family was a loving one. MICHAEL GOULDING., ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Photo released by police of Courtney Aoki, the victim that was shot in Ladera Ranch on Tuesday. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Courtney Aoki wanted to be an actress.

Aoki, 20, was a triple-threat singer-actor-dancer who worked in a taco joint and played in school productions of "West Side Story," "The Odd Couple" and "Damn Yankees."

But her dreams ended in an all-too-real murder mystery, played out this week in the neighborhoods and early morning roadways of Orange County. Aoki of Buena Park was identified as the first victim of 20-year-old gunman Ali Syed.

Police believe Syed shot Aoki several times with a shotgun in the bedroom of his parents' home in Ladera Ranch about 4:45 a.m. Tuesday. Syed, police say, then launched a series of carjackings that left two others dead before he killed himself, all during the morning traffic commute.

Little if anything was known Wednesday about Aoki.

Jim Perez, manager of an Orange County Board of Education program for young performers, remembered Aoki participating during the summer of 2010.

"She was an eager, excited performer. She was bright and focused," said Perez,

"She was always the type of person to reach out to those that were reserved, who'd take awhile to engage. She'd be the one to encourage them," he said. "She had some talent; theater was for her."

Aoki attended high school in the alternative program at the board of education, Perez added.

"She was a bright student in the performing arts program," he said.

It appears that Courtney and her mother, Annette, moved about in the past few years, from Norwalk to Long Beach to Buena Park, online records show.

Lauren Vasquez lives in the central Buena Park apartment complex where Aoki lived with her mother, grandmother and five cats.

Vasquez wasn't close with Aoki's family, but the young woman was memorable, Vasquez said, always dressing up, wearing fancy boots.

"Her hair was purple one day and red the next day," Vasquez said. "She had her own style."

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